120+ Groups Demand Restoration of Vital Public Comments Tool

For Immediate Release: September 12, 2025

Contact: David Rosen, drosen@citizen.org

WASHINGTON, D.C. – More than 120 groups led by the Coalition for Sensible Safeguards today called on the General Services Administration (GSA) to immediately restore the POST API tool on Regulations.gov. The POST API allows the public to submit comments on pending regulatory actions via third party organizations. The groups also called on the U.S. Office of Management and Budget to direct all agencies to extend any public comment periods that were impacted by the removal of the POST API.

“Public participation is the cornerstone of a fair, open, and inclusive regulatory process. This is why Congress made public participation a central feature of the Administrative Procedure Act,” the letter reads. “By preventing the public from submitting comments through the POST API tool, GSA is fundamentally undermining congressional intent to provide the public a right to comment on regulations before they take effect.”

While regulated corporate entities and their lobbyists routinely participate in the rulemaking process and never miss an opportunity to share their views in comments, this is not true for most private individuals who are impacted by rulemakings. Most people are unaware of Regulations.gov, do not monitor the Federal Register to identify regulatory actions that will impact them, and do not have the time, resources, or know-how to draft and upload comments directly to Regulations.gov.

The POST API empowers groups across the political spectrum to solicit comments from the public through a website or email campaign and submit those comments to the relevant agency without the individual commenter needing to visit Regulations.gov. This is a critical tool for lifting up the public’s voice so it is not drowned out by powerful corporate lobbyists. On August 8, without explanation, GSA quietly disabled this vital public engagement tool.

Comments submitted using the POST API are essential to public participation in rulemaking, the coalition maintains. If the tool is permanently disabled, federal agencies will be bombarded with talking points from corporate lobbyists and deprived of crucial information on how regulatory actions benefit or harm individuals, our families, our livelihoods, and our communities. The damage to the integrity of the regulatory process cannot be overstated.

“Removing the POST API tool sends a clear message that the Trump administration does not want public input on its actions,” said Rachel Weintraub, executive director of the Coalition for Sensible Safeguards and author of the letter. “GSA must reverse course and reinstate this critical tool immediately.”

In addition to the 122 organizational signatories, 14 individuals signed the letter including several law professors.

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